Besser: Illinois GOP “Goes for the Gutter”

David Streeter — October 14, 2010 – 10:40 am | Election 2010 | Have They No Shame? | Republicans Comments (0) Add a comment

The Jewish Week‘s James Besser has a strong take on the Illinois Republican Party playing the anti-Semitism card:

It’s really sad and a little scary how anti-Semitism has become just one more piece of cheap campaign rhetoric, to be hurled at just about anybody and any organization that doesn’t agree with you.

Today’s case in point: the Illinois Republican Party, which just issued a statement headlined ‘This Just In: Anti-Semitic, Anti-Israel MoveOn.org Calls Giannoulias Their Hero.’

 

Not only does Besser debunk the false claims made by the Illinois Republican Party in their statement, he blasts them for their reckless use of the term “anti-Semitism”:

Thus the charge of anti-Semitism, like Holocaust comparisons, becomes just one more throwaway political line in the mud fight we call politics.

And thus the meaning of a social scourge that has persisted through the ages is devalued, rendered into meaningless pap, like so much of the hyper-partisan rhetoric we hear these days.

For shame.

 

NJDC echoes Besser’s sentiments and condemns the Illinois Republican Party for its misuse of the term “anti-Semitism.” As Besser pointed out, the Illinois Republican Party completely omitted the Anti-Defamation League’s praise for MoveOn.org for its actions against anti-Semitic comments posted in its forums. 

Sadly, this is just the latest demonstration of certain elements within the conservative movement deliberately crossing over rhetorical boundaries and ignoring the facts.

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